that’s devastating news..no wonder yesterday DF wouldn’t load..but it gave me the usual error message about not connecting or being under maintenance. How utterly disrespectful to treat their loyal followers that way..obviously many will be in the midst of watching a drama..as am I..and not even a few days notice was given so that we could binge watch till the end??? They owed us that at least..very badly done. So our only choice right now is Viki..which hasn’t been acting that great either in discontinuing to support the app..or Netflix?? Very sad day for drama watchers.

I just got the email a minute ago..and even the way it’s worded is like a knife in the back..the cover letter indicating that I had requested cancellation and the false click to arrive at the same message? If I hadn’t gotten advance warning I’d be doubly shocked..as you were I’m sure!
_________________________________

Dear Camelia:

Your Premium subscription has been canceled
–
As requested, your DramaFever Premium subscription has been canceled.
You can continue to enjoy watching dramas with ads on your free membership! But no Premium subscription means no more access to feature films, HD streaming, or exclusive shows available only on DramaFever.
We’re sad to see you go! If you change your mind, you can always sign up again by clicking here.

Bring back my Premium Perks!!! That’s what I’m saying tooooooooo! Were we lulled into a false sense of security, that Dramafever had appeared to survive the launching of Kocowa and content being licensed by Netflix’s deep pockets because they had recently added some enticing new exclusive shows, like Lee Minki’s? Sob. 😭😭😭

chingu123
10:46 am on October 17, 2018

arghhhh….I felt a warm glow thinking about Lee Minki’s drama only yesterday..now WHAT???? We’ve been lamenting lately that not all dramas we hear about are available to us for viewing and now THIS??

Yep. I was going thru my watch list and practically salivating at the notion that I’d be seeing his drama soon. I tortured myself last night by watching a preview clip (unsubbed) from JTBC on YouTube. What was I thinking? Also, it looks like So Ji-sub’s drama is not on Viki, but it is on KOCOWA, so does that mean I have to bite the bullet and add that to my list of single provider subscriptions?

I feel like we’re headed back to the days of trying to find illegal downloads and softsubs — at least I still have my aging stack of older titles from the days we ordered from Bebe just to guard against those potentially rainy days when there were no more options…

You know, I also feel grumbly because I can’t rewatch some dramas I’d like to see again, like Goblin, for example, because Dramafever held exclusive rights. Darn them!

chingu123
1:27 pm on October 17, 2018

exactly! It feels like we’ve taken a huge step backwards for sure. And yep..all of a sudden I feel like rewatching a lot of things..just because now I know I can’t!! I’m at least lucky that I can finish Familiar Wife – I’m at episode 10 and it would have killed me not to be able to finish it. I’ll have to go to Viki now..though I’m not sure if it’s all available of course. I want my MINKI!!!! I want my TVN dramas!!!!

I think we’re going to have to bite a bullet or two..just for our sanity..and even then it’s definitely not enough…

Definitely – I really want “Beauty Inside” more than others because having had Lee Minki come back to us earlier in the year, I know I need more of him! Sigh… I feel like these contracts with the producers are going to be held hostage by Warner Brothers, don’t you?

PS – I’m going back and editing posts where I had links to videos on YouTube from Dramafever because all of those are broken now. I still can’t believe that the yanked all of the DF content from YT — it’s not like it cost them anything to keep it up!

chingu123
1:44 pm on October 17, 2018

honestly this was done in the most classless way possible. Even if that was the ultimate business decision on their part it could have been handled so much better and with a bit of sensitivity and appreciation for their very loyal followers. I feel like I was just kicked out and the door slammed in my face..the message could not have been stronger that we have no value to them and that we deserve no consideration…do they know we’d be angry at being cut off so suddenly? Yes of course. Do they care? Of course not!!!

There is a lot of anger in the community, especially as all indications point to it being a growth market — the problem is that they didn’t want to compete with the 900-pound gorilla called Netflix. I read not too long ago that Asian programming was the biggest growth sector for Netflix in terms of most streamed content.

I feel especially bad for the hundreds of employees who were suddenly dumped, and for Suk Park, who founded DramaFever all those many years ago. (Though he probably parted with good money when he sold the business.)

chingu123
2:02 pm on October 17, 2018

yes I feel very badly for them too..after all they’ve lost more than we have..for now I am not entranced by the offerings on Netflix and other than Mr. Sunshine I don’t have any that I’ve bookmarked to watch.

Okay! I was looking at my Netflix queue last night and let the preview play, just to see how I would react, and you know what – it felt sad, but do-able. I think you should bookmark Prison Playbook too; from what I could tell from the first episode it looks very well done.

chingu123
2:29 pm on October 17, 2018

I feel like such a coward at times which is why I’ve been skirting around Prison Playbook..seeing man being cruel to man is so hard to watch on a human level..and I can hardly expect sunny moments from this setting can I..lol? Maybe I’m assuming too much. Having said that I do eventually watch these heavy dramas because I know that I’d be cheating myself if I didn’t..remember it took me a while to watch Padam Padam too!! That seems so long ago…

Ooo… Padam Padam! I loved that drama! And like you, I held off on Thank You for the longest time because I was afraid of the storyline, but I loved that one too (and I rewatched it on ex-Dramafever just last year and still loved it). I think Prison Playbook got raves because there is some great bromantic stuff in it and, as I like the leads, it’s a “go” for me when I’m ready.

I started watching the Chinese drama “Rise of the Phoenixes” on Netflix and enjoyed the costumes and much of the interactions between the leads, but I skimmed over a lot of the many antagonists’ plotting scenes. I got almost halfway in and got to the point where I could tell it was going to have a “Korean ending” (and probably without any true consummation between the leads) so I skipped to the last 2 episodes to confirm my suspicions and close it out. There are just times when that’s not what I want from a drama. Wait… what am I saying? I NEVER want that in a drama!

chingu123
2:59 pm on October 17, 2018

lol! There ARE those kind of dramas which you just want to close off by going straight to the end..I’ve done that more than once myself! I think I saw a few minutes of that one accidentally but didn’t really do it for me.
Last weekend was our Thanksgiving weekend and I was going to be away without internet so I decided to download a couple of episodes of Bad Guys: Vile City. I had enjoyed the first one and had a hope that I would find the second equally interesting. Also the cast was intriguing: Ji Soo playing a character totally different from the sweet one I last saw him in and Kim Moo Yeol whom Yolette and I both loved in Beautiful Bride. Of course I hung on to it by the skin of my teeth..determined to get through the initial two set up episodes and I made it..barely. It’s not that I wasn’t expecting it but how can anyone be interested in watching extended fighting scenes every five minutes where you don’t even know (or care) who the bad guys are??? I remember thinking to myself that it was too bad that they must have spent hours choreographing the scenes which I had just fastforwarded through!! I do plan to pick it up again eventually…it’s the kind of drama where you can do that.

I watched the first “season” of that one and thought it okay, sufficiently that I bookmarked the next one. I like Ji-soo too, so I have it there for when I’m interested in that kind of thing. Sometimes a good redemption/fight scene laden drama is just the ticket. (But unless DF is the punching bag, I’m not in the mood just yet.)

chingu123
3:31 pm on October 17, 2018

Ha Ha!! There is obviously a place for fight scenes but they have to be strategically placed AFTER I’ve come to care for the characters involved..then my heart my beat a little faster in fear and concern.. but give it to me in the first episode where I have no idea who is who (and cops look more like thugs than the real thughs) and it’s just noise on the screen for me..